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When racing goes wrong: Scott Pruett’s Autoweek blog

Scott Pruett blogs about his last few races in the Tudor United SportsCar Series. For Pruett, they are a couple of races he'd just like to forget. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

There are races you just want to forget …

Our last two races in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, Detroit and Watkins Glen, fall into that category. Our No. 01 Telmex Ganassi/Sabates Riley-Ford was fast in Detroit, which makes it even worse. I was P1 in the second practice and then again in warm-up.

It all started with my co-driver, Memo Rojas, hitting the wall in qualifying, putting us back a bit. Don’t get me wrong, when you’re qualifying you have to put it on the edge and sometimes things happen. However, he also got in too deep into turn three and got into the runoff. He had to turn around, then continue on. Sorry to say, that turn-around put too much heat into the clutch and would come back to ruin our race. We just didn’t know it yet.

The Ganassi boys went to work after qualifying getting the car back in great shape. I ran 18 laps in warm-up and the car was good and fast. In fact, I was P1. Looking good for the race. The green flag waved and Memo was off and running, but within three laps, the clutch started slipping. At that point, it was just a matter of time before it failed. Two laps later he pitted. No go, just slip. All we could do at that point was get our allotted time for driver points, a painful lesson we learned last year costing us the drivers’ championship. Memo got his time, then I jumped in. Wow … no go for sure, just slip … I drove around slowly, well, as fast as I could, which at best was real slow. Within two laps, I pitted. I didn’t want to get hit and total our race car. We waited for a yellow, and it came out 15 minutes later. I exited the pits and drove around behind the pace car, got my time in, pitted and drove directly back to the garage. Done for the day!

Next up, Watkins Glen. I love this track! The fans, the circuit, what a great place to race. Typically we have a great car there -- but not this year. It started out loose, making us struggle. We did everything we could to fix it; in fact, we ran out of things to try to tighten up the rear. I qualified P4, just 0.017 second out of third. We worked on the car and got it OK, not great, and still loose into the corners, but better.

We were looking for a solid race. The Sahlens Six Hours of the Glen was off and running, and as the race settled in, things were going fair, not great … just OK. Still loose in, so we had to be heads-up all the time. We made a few changes in the race, which helped a bit. I did the first two stints, then Memo got in. Within five laps, he had contact with a GT car, backing him hard into the tire wall exiting the last turn before pit-in. Heavy damage to the rear, so you guessed it: Right to the garage for repairs. Wing, bodywork, diffuser. The Ganassi boys had it fixed in record time, and we lost only nine laps.

Once something like this happens, your strategy changes. You try to stay out of trouble, don’t mess up anybody’s race and get all the points you can. Sage Karam also joined the No. 01 driver lineup for the Glen. Memo did his two stints then Sage got in for two. All was going as well as it could under the circumstances. I got back in for the last half hour. Sage came to the box, hit his marks, and I jumped in with just 20 minutes until the checkered.

The car was still the same: A bit free in, then tight through the middle of the turn. We were focused on the checkered and getting to the finish and getting whatever points we could. The yellow came out with approximately 15 minutes to go for contact between two cars putting them in the turn 10 tire wall. IMSA cleaned up the mess and we went back to green. All I was thinking was, stay out of trouble and get to the finish.

Down the back straight into the bus stop, then exit the bus stop through turn five making my way to turn six. All of a sudden, as I was just getting ready to enter turn six, I got hit from behind -- not just hit, rammed. It slammed me hard into the tire wall; this was a big hit.

I got out and took an inventory of how I was feeling. That’s what you do after a big hit: How bad is it hurting, is anything broken, bleeding? I took my inventory, and my foot hurt pretty bad. I limped to the tire wall and sat down. The driver who hit me came running up. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” he said. “My brake pedal went to the floor, I had no place to go, I was out of brakes.” At least that made sense why he hit me so damn hard. I just couldn’t believe it, as a bad day just got worse. But the safety team got me to medical and I was checked out and released. Bruised not broken … at least that was great news!

It’s always interesting after an crash like that. Why us? Why there? What could I have done differently? All racers and race teams think/say that.

It was a tough race weekend for all the Ganassi teams. Kyle Larson had a tire go down in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, sending him into the wall. Jamie McMurray had a great race going, then dodged a spin in front of him and got hit from behind. The worst was at the IndyCar race in Houston. Under yellow, yes yellow. Graham Rahal was warming up his tires behind Tony Kanaan, who was running third. Ran right into the back of him, sending him into the wall putting him out of the race … under yellow!

I hate it, or should I say we hate it, all the drivers. We hate it for our team, we hate it for our guys and for our sponsors. You put so much passion and energy into every race -- we all do -- and to have them end like that? You really can’t put it into words. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger! Right???

My Ganassi boys loaded up our wrecked race car. Just after the door was closed, the truck headed back to our shop in Indy. They headed into work first thing Monday morning, skipping any sort of day off, ripped the car apart, assessed the damage and got to work on repairs. Long days ahead. The one thing I am certain of is the fact that this will not define us nor will it stop us from going after it with everything we’ve got. That’s what makes us such a great team. Still no place I’d rather be.

See you at Mosport!

Editor’s note: Autoweek Editor at Speed Scott Pruett, 54, is one of North America’s most successful race-car drivers, with multiple wins and championships in karting, Trans-Am and Grand-Am racing, as well as victories in IMSA and CART, plus starts in NASCAR. He drives the No. 01 Telmex Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Riley-Ford in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, along with co-driver Memo Rojas. With five Rolex 24 wins, Pruett is tied with Hurley Haywood for the all-time record.